﻿388 
  Scientific 
  Intelligence. 
  

  

  In 
  the 
  present'instance, 
  geologists 
  have 
  most 
  carefully 
  listened 
  to 
  

   all 
  that 
  has 
  been 
  brousjht 
  forward 
  from 
  the 
  physical 
  side. 
  Im- 
  

   pressed 
  by 
  the 
  force 
  of 
  the 
  physical 
  reasoning, 
  they 
  no 
  longer 
  

   believe 
  that 
  they 
  can 
  make 
  any 
  demands 
  they 
  may 
  please 
  on 
  past 
  

   time. 
  They 
  have 
  been 
  willing 
  to 
  accept 
  Lord 
  Kelvin's 
  original 
  

   estimate 
  of 
  100 
  millions 
  of 
  years 
  as 
  the 
  period 
  within 
  which 
  the 
  

   history 
  of 
  life 
  upon 
  the 
  planet 
  must 
  be 
  comprised 
  ; 
  while 
  some 
  

   of 
  them 
  have 
  even 
  sought 
  in 
  various 
  ways 
  to 
  reduce 
  that 
  sum 
  

   nearer 
  to 
  his 
  lower 
  limit. 
  Yet 
  there 
  is 
  undoubtedly 
  a 
  prevalent 
  

   misgiving, 
  whether 
  in 
  thus 
  seeking 
  to 
  reconcile 
  their 
  requirements 
  

   with 
  the 
  demands 
  of 
  the 
  physicist 
  they 
  are 
  not 
  tying 
  themselves 
  

   down 
  within 
  limits 
  of 
  time 
  which, 
  on 
  any 
  theory 
  of 
  evolution, 
  

   would 
  have 
  been 
  insufficient 
  for 
  the 
  development 
  of 
  the 
  animal 
  

   and 
  vegetable 
  kingdoms." 
  

  

  Going 
  on 
  to 
  discuss 
  the 
  evidence 
  as 
  to 
  the 
  rate 
  of 
  change 
  and 
  

   intensity 
  of 
  action 
  of 
  geological 
  changes 
  in 
  earlier 
  geological 
  

   times 
  as 
  compared 
  with 
  the 
  more 
  recent, 
  he 
  says 
  : 
  " 
  They 
  [geo- 
  

   logists] 
  have 
  been 
  unable 
  to 
  discover 
  any 
  indication 
  that 
  the 
  rate 
  

   of 
  geological 
  causation 
  has 
  ever, 
  on 
  the 
  whole, 
  greatly 
  varied 
  

   during 
  the 
  time 
  which 
  has 
  elapsed 
  since 
  the 
  deposition 
  of 
  the 
  

   oldest 
  stratified 
  rocks. 
  They 
  do 
  not 
  assert 
  that 
  there 
  has 
  been 
  

   no 
  variation, 
  that 
  there 
  have 
  been 
  no 
  periods 
  of 
  greater 
  activity, 
  

   both 
  hypogene 
  and 
  epigene. 
  But 
  they 
  maintain 
  that 
  the 
  demon- 
  

   stration 
  of 
  the 
  existence 
  of 
  such 
  periods 
  has 
  yet 
  to 
  be 
  made. 
  

   They 
  most 
  confidently 
  affirm 
  that 
  whatever 
  may 
  have 
  happened 
  

   in 
  the 
  earliest 
  ages, 
  in 
  the 
  whole 
  vast 
  succession 
  of 
  sedimentary 
  

   strata 
  nothing 
  has 
  yet 
  been 
  detected 
  which 
  necessarily 
  demands 
  

   that 
  more 
  violent 
  and 
  rapid 
  action 
  which 
  the 
  physicists 
  suppose 
  

   to 
  have 
  been 
  the 
  order 
  of 
  nature 
  during 
  the 
  past. 
  

  

  " 
  So 
  far 
  as 
  the 
  potent 
  efifects 
  of 
  prolonged 
  denudation 
  permit 
  us 
  

   to 
  judge, 
  the 
  latest 
  mountain-upheavals 
  were 
  at 
  least 
  as 
  stupen- 
  

   dous 
  as 
  any 
  of 
  older 
  date 
  wheVeof 
  the 
  basal 
  relics 
  can 
  yet 
  be 
  

   detected. 
  They 
  seem, 
  indeed, 
  to 
  have 
  been 
  still 
  more 
  gigantic 
  

   than 
  those. 
  It 
  may 
  be 
  doubted, 
  for 
  example, 
  whether 
  among 
  the 
  

   vestiges 
  that 
  remain 
  of 
  Mesozoic 
  or 
  PaloBOzoic 
  mountain-chains 
  

   any 
  instance 
  can 
  be 
  found 
  so 
  colossal 
  as 
  those 
  of 
  Tertiary 
  times, 
  

   such 
  as 
  the 
  Alps. 
  ISTo 
  volcanic 
  eruptions 
  of 
  the 
  older 
  geological 
  

   periods 
  can 
  compare 
  in 
  extent 
  or 
  volume 
  with 
  those 
  of 
  Tertiary 
  

   and 
  recent 
  date. 
  The 
  plication 
  and 
  dislocation 
  of 
  the 
  terrestrial 
  

   crust 
  are 
  proportionately 
  as 
  conspicuously 
  displayed 
  among 
  the 
  

   younger 
  as 
  among 
  the 
  older 
  formations, 
  though 
  the 
  latter, 
  from 
  

   their 
  greater 
  antiquity, 
  have 
  suff'ered 
  during 
  a 
  longer 
  time 
  from 
  

   the 
  renewed 
  disturbances 
  of 
  successive 
  periods." 
  And 
  further 
  : 
  

   "It 
  is 
  thus 
  abundantly 
  manifest 
  that 
  even 
  in 
  the 
  most 
  ancient 
  of 
  

   the 
  sedimentary 
  registers 
  of 
  the 
  earth's 
  history, 
  not 
  only 
  is 
  there 
  

   no 
  evidence 
  of 
  colossal 
  floods, 
  tides 
  and 
  denudation, 
  but 
  there 
  is 
  

   incontrovertible 
  proof 
  of 
  continuous 
  orderly 
  deposition 
  such 
  as 
  

   may 
  be 
  witnessed 
  to-day 
  in 
  any 
  quarter 
  of 
  the 
  globe. 
  The 
  same 
  

   tale, 
  with 
  endless 
  additional 
  details, 
  is 
  told 
  all 
  through 
  the 
  strati- 
  

   fied 
  formations 
  down 
  to 
  those 
  which 
  are 
  in 
  the 
  course 
  of 
  accumu- 
  

   lation 
  at 
  the 
  present 
  day." 
  

  

  